The Weather Report From Around the Solar System

Earth has a lot in common with Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Both worlds feature liquid lakes, clouds—and rain. A March 18 study in Science, led by Elizabeth Turtle of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, reports that Titan is experiencing spring showers. That 190,000-square-mile dark patch on Titan's Belet desert, seen in this image by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, represents liquid methane raining on the moon.The study was a surprise because Titan's methane lakes are found at its poles, and the equatorial region is made mostly of dry dunes. Turtle's images showed that methane rain in the deserts is not simply a thing of the distant past, but an ongoing meteorological phenomenon.

Springtime Showers on Titan

Springtime Showers on Titan

Earth has a lot in common with Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Both worlds feature liquid lakes, clouds—and rain. A March 18 study in Science, led by Elizabeth Turtle of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, reports that Titan is experiencing spring showers. That 190,000-square-mile dark patch on Titan's Belet desert, seen in this image by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, represents liquid methane raining on the moon.

The study was a surprise because Titan's methane lakes are found at its poles, and the equatorial region is made mostly of dry dunes. Turtle's images showed that methane rain in the deserts is not simply a thing of the distant past, but an ongoing meteorological phenomenon.

Jupiter's Missing Belt

Jupiter's Missing Belt

Besides its great spots, the solar system's largest planet also boasts great belts. But last May scientists noticed that Jupiter was missing one of two of its main belts, the South Equatorial Belt. This brown stripe that intersects the Great Red Spot suddenly vanished, replaced with a band of white. Then in November, the belt reappeared just as mysteriously.

Glenn Orton, a planetary scientist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, says that clouds deep inside Jupiter's atmosphere thickened at the same time clouds higher up in the atmosphere thickened, "a change that appears to be coincident with the change of color," he said. Why did this happen, and how are the two connected? "It's this superultimate question that we can't yet answer," Orton says.